- What Does It Mean “To Follow Jesus”? Tips from Ed Schroeder
Colleagues,
This coming Sunday’s Gospel will feature two of John the Baptist’s disciples hearing him identify Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” whereupon (as it will say), “they followed Jesus” (John 1:37).
“Following Jesus” is something of a mantra in American Christian discourse these days, especially in so-called “evangelical” circles. Lutherans who lean in that direction are ...
- Theology for Third Graders on the Cusp of Christmas
Colleagues,
The congregation I serve is one of the very few in the ELCA that operates an elementary school. It’s a legacy of our roots in the LCMS, one for which we continue to thank God. Of late we see it emerging more and more as a mission field, in sharp distinction to an older identity ...
- Werner Elert on Truth, and Why It Matters
Colleagues,
Ed Schroeder enriches us all this week with a timely gem from Werner Elert, the great 20th century Lutheran theologian with whom he studied at the University of Erlangen, and who he later introduced to a phalanx of his own students, the undersigned among them. I continue to wish that Elert’s books were more accessible ...
- Post-Election Conversation; the January Seminar
Colleagues,
Responses rolled in to the post of two weeks ago about the election of Mr. Trump. I send you a selection of them today. It’s as close as we’re able to come to conversation about such things within this reading-and-writing community that I spoke of in the post. Unless, of course, one makes a trip ...
- The necessity of Christ for his Christians, post-election
Colleagues,
I foist on you some thoughts that have either screamed or simmered in my head through the hours since Tuesday. If you voted for Mr. Trump, there is much you will not like. Those who voted for Mrs. Clinton may also object along the way. Still, that you’re reading this at all presumes a common ...
- Justification by Faith at Ground Level (An Example)
Colleagues,
I’ve been working on a couple of essays these past few weeks. The writing comes slowly. Too slowly, I fear, to satisfy anybody’s reasonable expectations of timely posts. I hope one of them will be ready for you in a day or two.
Meanwhile we find ourselves in the waning hours of another Reformation Day. There ...
- Bill Burrows on Spirit, Church, Gospel, and the Centrality of Christ
Colleagues,
Last week I sent you a batch of responses to assorted offerings of the past several months. I left one item out. To add it would have broken my evolving rule of thumb that 2000 words, give or take a few hundred, is enough for one week. It seemed in any case to be meaty ...
- An Assortment of Readers’ Responses
Colleagues,
Every now and then one of you will send me a note about something you read in the latest post. I stash these away as they come in, now and then flagging an item that ought to be shared more widely. Here are a few from the current collection.
+ + +
1. Late in June you ...
- Two Questions for the Baptized Person (Part Three of a Keynote Address)
Colleagues,
My younger daughter gets married this Saturday and expects her dad to come through with a sermon. So with that overwhelmingly in mind, I send along today’s installment without prefatory ado. What you’re getting is the third and final installment of my keynote address at the Crossings conference last January. You’ll need to have scanned ...
- An Approach to “Discerning the Spirit” (Part Two of a Keynote Address)
Colleagues,
Last week you got the first part of my address to the Crossings conference last January. In the course of introducing the overall topic and the several speakers involved, I did a riff of sorts on the core issue—the conundrum, as I called it—that thinkers of a Lutheran confessional bent keep returning to. There is ...
